Moshe's Sign
by Servant of Fire
Summary: Riley is forced off the road by ex team members, and drowns in his car in the Hudson river. A little ginger kitten comes with a message from beyond the grave ,to comfort Ben, Ian and Abby. Rated T for character death.


**Moshe's Sign~**

**For The One Who parts the Red Seas of my life,and helps there to be meaning reaped from my tears...with love~**

Ben Gates stands beside the Hudson,and the great historian-treasure hunter recalls the history of the river, that has now claimed the life of his dearest friend.

"_Mohegan." _he says to Ian, who stands beside him, jaw clenched, blonde hair blowing in the winter wind.

There is a silence that chills the heart,and Ian looks up,

"Sorry, what?"

"_Mohegan _was the name the Mohicans gave the Hudson river. Yet another race that history tried to snuff out..."

"Right..." Ian stairs at the place where the little red ferrari sank into the abyss...

"I wonder if history will remember this..."

* * *

It had been so senseless. So unfair. But then,when was murder ever fair?

It had never bothered Ben that Riley was a Jew. Why should it?

It had never bothered Ian either, despite some of the teasing he'd done.

Still, the great benefit of having friends from all over the world, was to have friends of many races. Ben recalls the nickname given to America...

"Melting Pot...And you would think the historians of America would have EMBRACED a study that would give back so much culture of the Native Americans. Their whole world, before White People came to be here. That's like 4,000 years of unrecorded history ,Ian. Gone...right along with him."

He jabs a finger down towards Riley's watery grave.

"They were never in it for the history ,though, Ben...Rex and his boys, it was all money for them. No history. No union of our great American melting pot. No honor. Just money. And then they found out that you had a Jewish tech-support...One passionate about the subject...And in the end ,racism won,and that old stereotype that Jews are full of greed, led them to believe that he would somehow get the lion's share of the money. And so...out of jealousy ...they... killed him."

The words came out heavy as stones,as they stood at the place,where their one-time team member Rex-a trained diver that could have helped unearth the city-sized village at the bottom of old _Mohegan,_Ben's clues had recently discovered- had chased Riley off the highway, had chased Riley till he drove his beloved little red sports- car, right off into the river...

Rex had comitted a hate crime. And killed a man-a YOUNG man-because of his ethnicity.

But white man, black man, Jewish man, Arab man, Hindu man, Chinese man, what did it matter?!_

In the end,they had killed a MAN. A HUMAN BEING. One of the most loved in the entire world, or so Ben and Ian thought, as they stood looking down as far as the dark and rolling water would allow them to see.

Abby was still standing on the bank below them. Having just left a large bouquet of white roses, in memory...

"Shall we go down there, then?" Ian asked, nodding her direction. And Ben nodded.

* * *

When they got there,they found Abby, bowed over her hands and knees, a ghost of a smile on her face,as white as the ghostly roses, placed to mark the place,where the pale cloud of his young soul ascended,when he passed from the water to the sky.

"Abigail?" Ben asked, and his sorrow rolled onto his tounge, like thunder on a tiny drum, too heavy for his throat,and almost inaudible. Too heavy for tears, too late for apologies now. The great historian recalled the meaning of the word "Holocaust".

From the Greek: _Holos kaustos. _Entirely burned...

Which is how he felt right now, ashen and paper thin, and remembering the face of a young man who lay beneath a river, and no basket of bullrushes could bring his infant soul back, the same way it had carried Moshe the Law-Giver over the Nile, to the arms of Pharaoh's daughter...

No amends to be made now.

Abby was smiling, face pale, said smile hanging on it, thin ,like a crack in porcelain. A bundle of tiger-oarnge came sprinting past her, wild as a deer, a glow about it,as if it were radioactive, as if it were created to bring some sort of light into a desperately dark world.

The little creature pounced at Ian's feet,and he bellowed a laugh, "Well, hello there, ginger kitten!" he scooped it up.

The others watched ,fascinated,as ,affectionately, the little creature started licking the salt off of Ian's fingers, from the fries he'd had at a local Sonic a while ago.

"Oh, so you like Sonic too ,then? Ben swears it is food straight from God's kitchen..."

The little creature purred, excitedly. Ian laughed, "So, what do we call you, little lady?"

He lifted the collar tied about its neck. Or actually it was a shoe lace,from a pair of Toms sneakers.

It hit them all like a spear to the heart.

Riley's shoes...

It was as if Moshe had sent them a sign,straight up from the condemnation of their very own Nile. A ginger kitten, wrapped in a shoe lace instead of a bow. Bright green eyes burning with the same vibrant life Riley had left behind.

The shoe-lace had been Riley's. And perhaps he had asked Old Moshe, to send them the sign. And perhaps the kitten was an angel ,with a message from God.

Yes, there tucked in the shoe-lace collar was a note!

"I think ...TomTom is a proper name for a pretty little lady ,such as yourself..."Ian laughed, "Oh come, lets see what you brought me..."

He plucked the note free,and unrolled it...

Riley the sarcastic computer-saavy comedian. Comic relief for every hard situation they found themselves in, had left them a word of light-hearted wisdom, from beyond the grave,

"Hey Guys,

I am writing this because it occured to me today ,when I was reading about Martin Luther King Jr., (for our recent hunt, duh) that life...you know...it isn't for ever...So I feel like I should say this now,...just ...-not to be Jonny Raincloud-, but just...in case.

So here's just if I don't survive my 20's. Here's just if I'm not there to fix the computers tommorow, or to charm you with my good-looks and my brilliance. Just in case the ladies aren't there to flock to me at your office doors tommorow.

Just in case Im 6 feet under the snow before the winter's over...(God, NYC is FREEZING this time of year!)

White's great and all, and black is beautiful on cars. There are so many colors. Of shirts. Of hats. Of hair (like that punk rock kid we passed over there on 49th? remember her?)

Of people...

In the end , I've decided that red is my favorite color (and ,no, not because of my car!).

But red is the color that all people are united by,because blood is red,and so is the dirt.

We are all _Beni HaAdam_ ,the Sons of the Red-Earth.

Like the Red-Man from old-time historical America, right, Ben?

Like old Martin Luther...I have a dream too. That someday..we will all remember that we are all taken out of the same ground ,by God's hands, and so we are God's kids, made of Play-doh, and not of money.

That someday we can all live for love -not cash...

That we can all see more "ginger"...

But I suppose I'm just a crazy dreamer...And ,anyway, I've run out of paper.

Mazel tov!

-Riley

* * *

The little ginger kitten, God's sign, rolled over in Ian's arms,and pressed her head into his nose, rubbing her ears back and forth on his cheek.

"Ginger is ALL I am seeing..."Ian laughed.

Ben smiled ,sadly, as the sun began to set, ginger in the sky,glinting off the ginger fur of little TomTom.

Then he laughed ,for all his pain,

"Oh Riley, it's the dreamers,and not the rich-men , that own the world!"

Ian looked into the oncoming night,

"If you can dream it, you can do it, isn't that what they say? Maybe we can grant the kid his wish..."

Abby ran her fingers over the purring kittens ears...

"Go on dreaming ,Riley...And one day wake up on a world, where there is only one color, a brick red; where we can share the world's weatlh, where we can use our treasure to build,and not destroy."

The wind blew,and the river sighed, like a man turning over in his sleep...

~The End~


End file.
